Not about to let a golden opportunity pass, Ansys punched out a press release Nov. 17 noting its ties to the Red Bull team. In the broader world, Ansys rakes in 15% of sales from carmakers such as BMW and Toyota (TM). They use its software to analyze engines, electric powertrains and mechanical parts, and to simulate crashes.

Red Bull Racing — its drivers include Mark Webber — celebrated a dominant Formula One season, and so did Ansys. View Enlarged Image

Other users include aerospace and defense firms, medical device makers, and oil and gas companies such as Exxon Mobil (XOM).

The software helps companies assess how well prototypes work, identify design flaws and speed up product development. Product life cycles are shrinking and companies have less time "to get it right," says Ansys CEO James Cashman.

No Longer Like Edison

"Simulation is one way to project forward and to predict — to get 20, 30 years of learning experience in a hurry through rapid product cycles on a computer," Cashman told IBD. "The fact is, technical innovation and product breakthroughs are dependent on churning into new territory.

"It took Edison 10,000 attempts to get the light bulb perfected. For 50 years, people built cars essentially the same way. But those were the days of continual, incremental improvement. Now, consumer expectations grow all the time."

Shares in Ansys have climbed 18% in 2011. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate that Ansys' 2012 earnings will rise 12% to $2.86 per share, down from 20% growth in 2011, with revenue climbing 18.5% to $822.5 million. Some of the sales growth will come from computer chip software provider Apache, which Ansys bought in August for $314 million.

In a choppy stock market, analysts say one of Ansys' attractions is that almost 70% of its revenue is recurring from existing customers.

Engineers typically use the software for projects lasting three to four years. Cashman says the company's main challenge is producing software that mimics real-life conditions with greater accuracy.

It takes even brainy engineers a while to learn the quirks of any simulation software that models the physical responses of products to varying levels of stress, pressure, vibrations, electromagnetics, temperature or velocity.

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07/31/2015 04:26 PM ET

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